Our appreciation is extended to Scott D. Billigmeier for
scanning the photographs and preparation of the historical text
and captions.

It was often said by my late uncle, Professor Robert H. Billigmeier,
University of California, that all of our name in America are related.
That presumably holds true in Germany where the name is exceedingly
uncommon.
The vast majority of Billigmeiers here today descend from Johann
GEORG
(1842 - 1923) and Johanna (Serr) (1846-1930) Billigmeier who departed
Worms, Beresan District, South Russia (today near Odessa, Ukraine),
and
arrived in New York in 1873. From there, they quickly made their
way to
Scotland, S.D. where they permanently settled. Their children and
their
descendants moved into North Dakota, and many made their way to
California.

The Billigmeier family originally came from Grafenhausen in the
Palentine region of Germany -- a tiny, "non-descript"
(by Germany's high standards) village tucked into a low mountain
draw, near Anweiler am Trifels, which I visited in 1987. According
to Dr. Karl Stumpp, they were the only family to go from Grafenhausen
to South Russia although several families left from nearby Anweiler.
Jacob (1792-1863) and Catharine (Kranzbuechler) Billigmeier arrived
in Leipzig, Bessarabia, an Evangelical Lutheran community, in 1815.
In 1843, they were among 15 families who moved to Rohrbach and Worms.

As the Billigmeier family spread out in the Dakotas, George, Jr.,
with Johann
Grosz, Sr., and George Gäckle were the three co-founders of
town site in 1892
to be named Kulm, North Dakota. Henry & Meta (Masuger) Billigmeier
settled
in McClusky, ND, where he served as Superintendent of Schools for
a time before
moving to more temperate climates in Santa Rosa, California, not
far north
of San Francisco. Others of this generation remained in Scotland,
SD or ended up in
Marion, SD, Goodrich, ND, Oakland, CA, Santa Cruz, CA, Waco, TX,
and Amarillo, TX.
The closely aligned Serr family tended to stay in and around Scotland
or went into
Nebraska. The Orth family (J. Georg's grandmother) mainly stayed
in Worms, South Russia
but those that did come over tended to settle in Scotland, Menno
and Lesterville, SD.
Among them was Georg's uncle, the locally prolific "Reformed"
organizer Rev. Jacob
Orth (1837-1883).

Photo of J. Georg Billigmeier with his sister Magdalena and
her husband Georg Deutscher. Note that photo is confusingly
marked with 1910 but Georg Deutscher died in March 1909 so
must have been taken before then but probably close.